The present invention relates to padded articles, and more particularly to an armrest including a cushion made from non-toxic recyclable fibrous material, although the invention is not limited to armrests.
Modern vehicles usually include a padded armrest located between the front vehicle seats. Traditional padded armrests for luxury vehicles include an elongated structural member, a resilient foam piece covering at least the top surface of the structural member, and an aesthetic sheet of vinyl, fabric or leather enclosing the structural member and the foam piece. Typically, the foam piece is made from urethane foam, however this material is expensive and toxic to mold, and further must be carefully molded to obtain a consistent foam density in a desired shape. Also, the polyurethane foam is a thermoset material that is not recyclable, and thus it cannot be reground, remelted and reused. Further, it is not economically feasible to selectively include molded-in padded sections having different densities and/or different resilient properties in the foam piece, nor is it economically feasible to make structural sections of solid, non-foamed plastic as integral molded-in parts of a foamed article. Thus, while the polyurethane can be molded into different shapes, it is not easy to mold-in-place localized stiffer sections nor integral attachment flanges.
Aside from the above, there is a tremendous problem of non-recyclable products that must be land-filled when they are disposed of. It is desirable to develop replacement products having equal or improved performance that utilize recyclable materials rather than non-recyclable materials.
Therefore, an article and method solving the aforementioned problems is desired.